De-Evolution: How New Tech. Brings Us Closer to Our Past

Layoffs 2.0: the States Turn

2010-03-11T06:19:00.000-08:00

The last 18 months or so have been hell on the jobs market. We all know that. However, due to the 'Stimulus', a few sectors have really not felt the effects. They are of course your Federal jobs and a good deal of State employees (teachers, cops, etc). Why and what's next?

Remember that term 'saved' job, yeah I laughed at it too when I first heard the phrase. As time passed, it has become evident that the term is really fairly accurate. Jobs that were most certainly on the chopping block and HAD TO be eliminated in order for individual States to possibly balance their budgets, were 'saved'. But perhaps a much more accurate term would have been 'stayed' jobs, as in 'stay of execution'.

If you work for a State, be prepared, because Layoffs 2.0 are about to start, and this time, it's your jobs and benefits. Why? Because the money the Fed. printed and handed to the states is running out. We borrowed about 1 trillion dollars to 'save' jobs that had to be cut. Why do they have to be cut? The States are broke, States can't print money (actually they can issue local currency, but no one does) ... now 18 months later extraordinarily tough choices are being made by those who set budgets. They have NO choice but to cut jobs and programs that they don't want to cut.

What does this mean for the whole of the U.S.? A recovery that should have begun months ago, an employment recovery is grossly flat-lined or worse yet, about to 'double-dip', because the policies set forth only sedated the patient, and did nothing to treat the patient. Now a wave of layoffs are about to hit our States. Important jobs and crucial programs will be eliminated and it will be hard. I know it's not easy to accept, but these jobs and programs should have been cut 18 months ago (or prior), not subsidized and given a 'stay of execution' running our Federal Debt to over $12.5 Trillion, and now we face the consequences of these poor economic decisions.

What should have been a sharp 'V' recovery (a steep decline, followed by unabashed growth), has of course turned into an elongated 'U' recovery, delaying the inevitable layoffs, fattening our debt, and making the pain last quite a bit longer than just taking the proper medicine from day one. Now economists far smarter than I are very concerned about a 'W' shaped recovery, aka the double-dip recession and those who believe our Government intervention has done far more damage than good, see a 'L' shaped "recovery" in our future. This is what is commonly used to describe Japan's 'Lost Decade' and many feel we are at the beginning stages of ours, repeating much of the same mistakes Japan made, all glossed over and based on how policy makes us 'feel', rather than what it actually accomplishes.

I don't want teachers to lose jobs, I don't want to see State pensions compromised ... but States are broke and raising taxes locally to 'cover the shortfall' will only take more money out of the average household and business and drive productive citizens to other States where they can provide a better life for their family.

States need to take their medicine, unfortunately it's about 18 months too late. As the private sector shows legitimate signs of real recovery, States are just entering their moments of true pain. They should have been with 'us' from the beginning. It might have made the 'down' a bit harder, but we'd be on our way to a very robust recovery, and unfortunately we are not.

The New Hyper-Focus - How Event Communities Reduce Noise and Harvest the Goods

2010-02-11T09:27:00.000-08:00

Thanks for asking! But no, sadly my blog is NOT sponsored by BOSE (or anyone) .... yet. I'm using this imagery and analogy to compare this noise reduction tool with what an event community delivers to the attendees/speakers/exhibitors/sponsors regarding their event AND community experience.

Social Media tools are too noisy for most and many don't know the proper filters they can individually put in place to better syphon quality content and conversations from the 'noise'. Twitter can be intimidating, Facebook too personal, and even the newest addition to social, Google Buzz seems interesting, but early reviews lean towards 'buzz' adding to the noise level, not reducing it. (Though I see some interesting paths Buzz can take).

Enter the era of the Hyper-Focused and if you are an association manager or an event organizer, I hope you can realize that NO better platform to harness this focus exists than setting up and maintaining your own niche community. Full disclosure, I work for the Social Collective, we do exactly this, niche event and association communities and a synced mobile app. to tie the experiences from web to mobile, but this post is NOT about my company, it is about the shift to hyper-focus that your event participants (on all sides) want and desire.

There is a palpable shift happening as we speak. The shift from Nicety to Necessity is underway. The NEED to have your own community, to seed, curate, and harvest an event community for all the benefit it can deliver to all involved. You want proof? It is SO evident that I am about to chat AND compliment a direct competitor in our very competitive space.

What happened this past week? Oh yeah, the Mid-Atlantic got CRUSHED by another storm, Snowmegeddon Part Deux!!! And the ASAE Tech Conference was forced to cancel. OK, that's the end of the sto... woah, wait ... it's actually the birth of this story.

Literally in the wake of ASAE Tech, a few leaders saw an opportunity and sprung into action to create the UNTECH '10. With now more than 34o members of this overnight community, I encourage you to check it out, join in one of the many discussions and experience the Hyper-Focus that only an event/association community can deliver. Discussions that are NOT billboards for services, but rather engaging conversations opening true doorways for new professional relationships, networking opportunities galore, even the ability to view live video content if you aren't physically in D.C.

If you organize events, do you feel it's time you delivered this to your attendee? Whether they are speaking and enjoy the virtual feedback, attending and are loving the networking opportunities and social media extensions, or exhibiting/sponsoring and are SO excited to have the EXACT demographic they need to be chatting with all gathered in one social space. Do you think it's time you delivered this to them all? The era of the Hyper-Focused has begun. Event communities are the vessel to deliver this focus in a way that YOU own, you brand, you seed, and you benefit from.

Remember I just wrote a blog post about a DIRECT competitor in what is a bit of a crowded field. Am I stupid? Perhaps, but I don't feel stupid. Though we are competitors there are significant differences in our approach. However at our core, all the 'players' in this space believe in the power of community, the power of hyper-focus and how the apps. and modules we provide to all physically and virtually attending help to transcend a traditional 'attendee' into an event or association evangelist. An interactive member who cares, participates, comments, blogs, votes, creates, and enhances experiences for everyone. All within a community that delivers a hyper-focus they are NOT receiving anywhere else.

The shift is evident and a rising tide lifts all boats. So, I applaud greatly what I see happening at UNTECH and in the same breath, encourage anyone who wants more details on the tangible differences that do separate event/association community platform providers from one another to reach out to me so we can begin a new conversation.

Thanks everyone, I look forward to your comments and questions.

What #EventProfs Can Learn from rockers 'No Doubt'

2010-02-08T10:00:00.000-08:00

During our 'Creating an Online Community' panel discussion at this past Saturday's Event Camp '10, an interesting question was brought to the table by Paul Salinger of Oracle. He had asked how much content should be free? Is there a line, a limit, some way to know what is a purposeful amount of free content and what is giving away the store? Paul, great question and it couldn't be more timely.

I answered and I hold to it that the maximum amount of content that you can provide for free will net the greatest year over year returns for your physical event, association, or company. Webinars, Live Streaming of the event to virtual attendees, niche community platforms that deliver quality and hyper-focused content throughout the event life-cycle and meaningful efforts to engage the attendee and help transform them into engaged advocates, will all lead to year over year 'wins' in my opinion.

Content IS still king, but the content itself is now part of the marketing of the physical F2F experience (where of course you have to deliver even GREATER content live!). When Jason Falls described how Chris Brogan literally spent years building his influential position in the world of SM, he detailed how Brogan routinely and freely shared incredible libraries of techniques, experiences, blunders, and successes. Because of his consistency, humility, and accessibility, Chris Brogan is a trusted thought leader. The events he is directly involved in such as the Inbound Marketing Summit thrive as impassioned attendees brazenly advocate for this show series, while sponsors jockey to be a part of what he has helped build. People will say, "Not everyone can be Chris Brogan." and that is true because most don't have the internal fortitude to consistently excel. He's not dunking a basketball over Lebron or performing never before attempted spinal surgery to allow someone to walk again. He's more akin to the Social Media Tortoise who just so happens to run in a space that moves at the pace of the Hare. His meteoric rise seems to the observer as fast paced as a bullet train striking by, but inside that train he sits, lap top open, working, creating, sharing at all hours. Day in, day out and no, not everyone can do that, because they choose to watch Jersey Shore instead.

This blog was about No Doubt right? ... Yes, in fact it is. What did this creative rock act do to support their comeback tour in 2009 and why was it such a win? They gave it all away. Their entire recorded digital library up until the moment of the 2009 Tour was literally given away with the purchase of a ticket of $42.50 or more. Not the 'cheap seats' mind you, but the 'good to great' seats received every single track they ever recorded for free. Why? Because they knew in 2009 people had A) More choice than ever to stream and receive music B) Significantly tightened their personal budgets and choosing to go to a live concert was a decision that had to be seriously weighed and C) They realized (or at least their marketing department did) that the music, THE CONTENT, had shifted from being the final destination for most fans into a powerful marketing piece that nudged No Doubt fans to fork over the premiere dollars and go experience this killer act live and up close.

I do want to emphasize the "after the equation sign" side of things here as I think my call for 'Free' might be misinterpreted as some social utopian solution. Quite the contrary, the marketing moves by Brogan and No Doubt persuade, and rather effectively, multiple layers of individuals who will attend the physical event. Those who were already going feel appreciated and reciprocate socially and those who were on the fence are now highly more likely to open their wallets and experience the networking, education, and thrill the live event will deliver to them. While that next layer who can't go this year, but experiences the event virtually will share what they learned and be more inclined to take that leap next time and help grow your attendance base. Of this, I have 'No Doubt'.

I see some parallels here to discuss. Would love your opinions on the matter.

The continued conversation from Event Camp '10 is running in several places. A CrowdCampaign has been set up to discuss the #1 Take Aways from #EC10, so please participate here.

Why #EventProfs Should Think Like Writers

2010-02-05T07:10:00.000-08:00

It is ALL about the story ... Trust me. As a screenwriter that has been editing and re-editing a comedy since early 2004, (Go Hemp Go!), there are never enough edits and always bright new ways you can tie the story back together in a more seamless fashion. As part of a fluid and forward thinking group of #Eventprofs, I'd like to toss the idea out there that the physical event and the event life-cycle itself should be treated as a story. What does this entail? Well, first and foremost it requires you to think like a writer. What does that mean?

Have a vision. Understand where your story begins, where it develops, where it peaks, and where the natural conclusion occurs. Also curate ways to continue the story. Think the hints we receive about sequels and how great stories leave us wanting more. Understand fully the major developments that deserve the most time, yet do not underestimate the smaller stories within the over-arching tale. If you spin a side story make sure it connects and adds to the overall vision. You are not writing 'skits', you are crafting a singular being, don't forget that.
Waste NOTHING - I'm not talking physical (but 'go Green' until your heart is content), but I am talking content. If a piece of content is created, edited, and deemed worthy, then be sure it is in congruence with your overall message. The smallest tidbits of info you offer to the 'viewer' must be re-used and re-introduced later. Why? Because this justifies the existence of that content. No info should live in a Silo, be introduced once and never brought back into the fold ... that's poor writing, and it's a waste.
Strive to create an emotional response and actionable item. Often I am at an event and the education portion might be well enough, but it stirs nothing. I leave not motivated by the content and certainly not driven to act on it. Get creative, think of ways that imports the attendees emotion directly into your story. I'm not talking about tugging on heart strings and getting people to fork over money for Haiti either. I am referring to being hyper-focused to your attendee pool aka your audience. Make the content and story VERY real for them and if you can, create an actionable item they can take WHILE IN THE MOMENT (Live) that drives your story home and makes it real for them.

I know this might be a funny thing to suggest to #eventprofs, but if you believe crafting a story is a MUST for your event and event life-cycle ... then educate yourself on how to do this best and read 'Story' by Robert McKee. It is a stellar book. Yes, it is written for screenwriters, but I am suggesting that if you run an event, you are a story teller, or at least you ought to be.

We've been blessed lately with the emergence of amazingly well written comedies in the form of TV sitcoms over the last few years. The Office, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Community, Modern Family and a few others have shown the world that sitcoms are NOT dead. (BTW if you haven't watched Modern Family yet, please dive in here) Story crafting is alive and well and actually better than ever. Don't let your event be the next 'Jersey Shore' when it has the potential to be the next 'Seinfeld' instead.

What's your story?

Event Profs Can Use an Easy Win

2009-11-13T11:46:00.000-08:00

Oh my beloved #eventprofs ... it's been a trying, yet remarkable year as we've seen the conference world literally turned upside down and as we wind down 2009 and look forward to what is sure to be a wild 2010, the verdict is certainly still out on best practices when it comes to integrating social media as part of the fabric of your event.

You know you need to on some level simply because the best events out there are doing it, and doing it, and ... dare I say, doing it well (props to LL) ... but you battle internal bandwidth issues and you've got a ton of work on your plate already, so diving into the newer world of Event Apps. powered by Social Media starts out as a priority, but slowly fades to the background as you get closer to standing up the tents and putting on your 3 to 4 day event. Before this happens to you ... consider the VERY easy win that is CrowdCampaign.

This uber easy to wield App. allows you to create and launch branded contests that get your attendees and others who might be interested in your show participating with your event "brand" and by doing so, proliferating your content for you.

Check out how Web 2.0 is using this tool to Crowdsource best questions for their keynote speaker here: With almost 5,000 page views, 15 proposals and scores of votes, this is participation!

Then there is Tech Cocktail and the ingenuitve way they are getting sponsors excited and participating with their upcoming December event. Kudos to their team for this stellar idea that in just 2 days garnered over 2,700 page views and has generated a passionate battle for this free sponsorship spot! Check out the action and these great startups here:

Two great ways to get your attendees, perspective attendees, sponsors and possible sponsors for your event picking up YOUR social megaphone and sharing your content with their connections.

Call me to discuss how you can apply this tool to your event, but I encourage you to dive in boldly and use this tool to generate buzz, best ideas, proposals, questions for your keynotes, suggestions, and more. The top #eventprofs on Twitter continuously talk about handing some aspects over to your attendees and we couldn't agree more ... BUT, if you are going to hand over part of the reigns ... don't you at least want the horse adorned in your branding and with the ability to track all the pertinent metrics relevant to your world?

You have an event in late '09 or '10 ... you need a way to get true participation, conversation, interaction, and buzz going ... CrowdCampaign is the tool.

It starts at free and goes up to very affordable as most events will find they can get everything they want, the branding, the analytics, the size contest they need for $395. Plus, the events world is where we were born of ... If you're an event (organizer) or a non-profit, email me and I'll send you a discount code for 20% off your first CrowdCampaign.

This tool makes it easy ... and I think EVERY event organizer out there can use a little bit of easy after the last 12 months our industry just went through.

Good Luck!

Clinton
the Social Collective
clinton.bonner@gmail.com

Celebrate our CrowdCampaign Launch with a FREE CrowdCampaign!

2009-11-11T08:35:00.001-08:00

Keeping this as simple as we can ... We go "live" Monday with our new Twitter Crowdsourcing App. CrowdCampaign! We come from the Events and Conferences world, but any brand, event, or community manager could and should be using this tool!

We are giving away 9 FREE "Enterprise" CrowdCampaigns ... and this is how you can claim yours.

Visit http://crowdcampaign.com and launch your own contest by Monday. By doing so, you will receive from the Social Collective (the company behind the App.) a coupon code for 1 FREE CrowdCampaign that you can redeem any time over the next 12 months. This is an "Enterprisey" level CrowdCampaign for FREE that will cost just under $1,000 come Monday, so claim your free campaign!

Take advantage of this offer and get your CrowdCampaign going today ... this App. is a killer, learn it, live it, love it ...

CrowdCampaign ... Create a Contest. You Win.

What Makes a GREAT On-Line Contest?

2009-11-10T09:28:00.000-08:00

Contests, Competitions, and On-Line Campaigns are the rage ... period. Some soar because they are unique and buzzworthy, some make the grade simply because the brand behind the contest is "too big to fail", no matter how lame the "contest" actually is, and the rest pretty much pitter out, don't make enough noise, and die a lonely death.

So, let's quickly examine: What Makes a GREAT Contest?

To me, it boils down to 3 Key factors ...

1) Is the contest SUPER easy for users to participate in? Are they entering a contest simply by logging on to Twitter or Facebook OR are you making them create a new log in and password for some newly existing site? Make it easy breezy guys and gals ... and use tools that leverage where the crowds are already gathered.

2) Does YOUR contest ask a human to act like a human OR act like a robot? This is HUGE! Are you actually asking for participation from your crowd, or just asking them to re-tweet something for you? Here is a GREAT example: Singer Songwriter Jack Johnson recently ran this campaign.

Simple, clean, and to their credit it worked well enough. It asked people to simply Re-Tweet their message and by doing so, earn a free MP3 for his new upcoming single. OK, so Mashable picked this up so obviously it worked right? Wrong, Mashable picked this up BECAUSE his personal brand (Jack Johnson's) is "Too Big to Fail" regardless of the actual SM campaign, HE is buzzworthy, that is NOT the case for 99% of the brands out there.

Wouldn't a campaign that REALLY engaged Jack Johnson fans on meaningful levels worked far better? Of course it would have. Instead of asking people to RT a message, brands should be engaging their followers. In this example, they could have posed the question: "What is YOUR favorite Jack Johnson song of all time and tell us why?" ... or even MORE granular ... "What is YOUR favorite Jack Johnson lyric of all time and what does it mean to YOU?" ... Now, you've got meaning, a real reason for a fan to participate alongside a brand, bake in a voting aspect and you've got SM gold . And if you're using the right SM tools crafted for contests, as these fans generate content, it is being spread for them by the apps. you are leveraging. And instead of just an MP3, they should have been giving ALL an MP3 PLUS a few select winners something TRULY special. A signed guitar, backstage passes to an upcoming concert ... something !!! But, they didn't have to, because he's Jack Johnson, but YOU are not ... So that leads us nicely into factor #3 ...

3) Make the prize or "social carrot" TRULY meaningful to your exact target demographic. If you can make it something money can not buy, even better!!! I've seen the events world now reward winners of contests an hour lunch with the event's keynote! That's meaningful to people ... that is a true reward that gets the masses in and keeps them talking about your contest and content. To date THE best "social carrot" I have seen was offered up from video game maker @FreeVerse
revolving around the release of their new iPhone game, Warp Gate. You can read the entire story here, but they ran a Twitter competition where the "social carrot" was that the winner got a planet in their game, named after them! How unique, how curious and targeted a reward! Kudos!!! ... This is a technique other brands should adopt straight away. If you're giving something away, make it something money can not buy, and if money can buy it, make it specifically targeted, a REAL reward your core demographic will get excited about. If they're excited about it, they will share it ... period.

Of course I offer all this up because I hope you are engaging in some SM contests for your brand (whichever vertical you are in) ... and if you are not, well then this was a small guideline and I hope it nudges you to get going. Brands that engage their fans on meaningful levels win ... and properly run contests should be part of your strategy of engagement.

As most of you know, my company has an App. built specifically for online SM campaigns and contests. We call it CrowdCampaign and it's a killer. Check it out here, and call or email me with any questions you may have on how to get going.

Clinton
clinton@thesocialcollective.com
860.608.9074

The Unintended Consequence of Crowdsourcing

2009-11-09T06:03:00.000-08:00

Crowdsourcing began as a way to solve huge challenges, such as mapping the human genome. The theory behind Crowdsourcing is that of course a giant pool of talented individuals, when properly motivated and measured, can far out produce any company's internal team. The internal team simply doesn't have the bandwidth and suffers from too many Single Points of Failure whereas a precisely managed crowd always has someone of talent to do the required work. The net results of companies leveraging large communities (that get it right) are lowered costs, higher quality, and shorter time to market for their product or service.

A shining example of exactly that is TopCoder. With a robust community of over 200,000 software developers and graphics gurus, TopCoder hosts global software competitions for their many enterprise clients and delivers back amazing product, cheaper, and in a shorter time frame. That's what Crowdsourcing was built for right?

Well, things have changed. Now, Crowdsourcing is having a second coming, a 2.0 of itself if you will, and this time it is ALL about viral and social proliferation. Today's example highlights a few Brits with a mission and a community behind them. Watch the incredible YouTube story and video here: ChartJackers - I've Got Nothing

The point of all this is that Crowdsourcing is evolving before our very eyes, and the new vertical, the new opportunity for all to explore is the fine balance between the output of the crowd, the quality of the production from the crowd that is, AND the social media proliferation a Crowdsourced project can innately provide. Companies/Brands that can strike this balance and produce gems via the crowd (whatever they are producing) WHILE getting the average community member to turn into a full on advocate of the project will have gigantic success.

It's happening in the most unlikely of places. ChumBonus, is a Crowdsourced recruitment engine and quite a disruptive model that is looking to prove that YOU and all of your professional and personal connections can not only supplant, but easily surpass the archaic ways companies recruit and search for talent.

Employers pay nothing in their system to list their career opportunities (Unlike Monster or CareerBuilder), meaning ChumBonus is a complete meritocracy. Employers pay upon a successful hire and pay far, far less than leveraging traditional recruitment means.

The other end of their engine is YOU and all of your connections. You browse the job openings and refer individuals you feel are qualified. If your candidate lands the job, YOU get paid a "Chum Bonus" and it's not a small bit of money (typically around $1,000 to $1,500). Toss in the fact as YOU receive your "Chum Bonus" (for a successful hire) you are asked then and there what % of your "bonus" you would care to donate to a litany of amazingly powerful charities. Yup, they seamlessly baked in social good too.

As new jobs hit their engine, YOU refer the talented folks you know or at least proliferate the job opening by sharing it with your social graph. ChumBonus is banking that this tactful blend of Crowdsourcing output and Crowdsourcing social proliferation will lead to an amazingly efficient and engaging recruitment engine where the crowd not only does the dishes, but they hand out the flyers to get you in the joint too.

Welcome to Crowdsourcing 2.0 ... Monster and CareerBuilder, you have been warned.

Crowdsourcing For Your Event - There's an App. for That

2009-10-30T06:40:00.000-07:00

Crowdsourcing, it's pretty much everywhere and if you don't know about it yet, and how it can be applied to your world, I encourage you to learn. Jeff Howe, coined the term, "Crowdsourcing", and does a nice job explaining this technique and various applications here: http://crowdsourcing.typepad.com/ - The unintended consequence of Crowdsourcing is the unreal social media proliferation it can create when a buzz-worthy competition is launched.

So let's talk about your world, your event, and your brand. How can YOU apply Crowdsourcing at your next event? Luckily, there's an App. for that, and it's called CrowdCampaign. For the sake of transparency/disclosure, my company (the Social Collective) created this App. I "assisted" our lead dev. in creating and iterating through this creation, and yes, it is stellar, uber easy to use, incredibly effective, and refreshingly inexpensive. ENOUGH SELF PROMO #Agreed

Back to YOU, your event and how you should be implementing Crowdsourcing at your next conference or gathering. We all know attendees and sponsors love to participate and be part of the process, so let them do exactly that, just make sure you are doing it in the social arena where their participation translates into proliferation. Here are some ideas for your next event:

Crowdsource the best questions your attendees want the keynote(s) to answer ~ furthermore, if your keynote has an impressive social graph to reach out to, talk to him/her during the courting process and let them know your intentions and that their social support of this initiative is part of the gig. This is GREAT for their personal brand too, so get them on board and leverage their massive audience to get new eyes to your content, your contest, your event.
Crowdsource for proposals and topic suggestions - Ask the crowd what is relevant to their world and what they want to learn about at your event. Take it a step further and offer up some speaking slots and panel positions for best ideas. #SXSW is KING in this arena, their panel picker is an annual event unto itself at this point.
Ask the crowd who they are most excited to see live and why? If you've got an array of talented speakers, find out who your attendees are pumped to hear and get them sharing this excitement with their peers. If you run an expo, find out what new tech., or gadget, or service, or product the crowd is most excited to learn about. Just ask them, they will voice their opinion.
Ask the crowd "What's the #1 Take Away or Best Idea learned and how they plan on implementing it?" Your attendees sharing stories on how they intend to apply what they learned at YOUR event, that is SM gold.
Post-Event, use Crowdsourcing to extend the life of your event and ask the crowd "Who Wow'd YOU at XYZ '09 and Why?" OR "What's the one thing YOU would love to see XYZ Event incorporate for our 2010 Event and Why?" Either is a huge win and will naturally extend the life of your physical event.

Now you just need the tool to make this super easy. And that tool is CrowdCampaign. Our App. allows you to stand up branded, unique competitions that gets your attendees and sponsors promoting for you and alongside you. We leverage Twitter wisely and the results are contests that elicit REAL participation and buzz.

Call or Ping me to sched. a demo and learn more about CrowdCampaign. Your event needs more participation. This is the way to do it simply, inexpensively, and in a branded package that gets eyes and ears on YOUR event.

Clinton
the Social Collective
clinton@thesocialcollective.com
860.608.9074
http://twitter.com/clintonbon

What I learned from my 2 year old daughter today

2009-08-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

Truth be told, Emily isn't two quite yet ... she's about 40 days shy of that glorious age. Often, even as I type, I've got at LEAST 7 various windows open each with multiple tabs and even a few with a blinking cursor in the URL because, well, I meant to go somewhere on the world-wide web a few minutes ago and hold on ... my Blackberry just flashed.

I have a feeling I'm not alone right now ... I've been struggling on getting THE task at hand done lately. Why? Not because the task is difficult, but because while accomplishing the task I set out to do, I have SEVERAL ideas that I think are great and worth exploring and I'm afraid I'm going to forget them, so I start a portion of the new task, open a new window, start a new Google search, send a text to a friend about this brazen new idea ... then, once I'm 1/3rd the way done with that task, I say ... what was I doing before, then literally filter through my 7 parallel windows until I go ... "Oh yeah ... " and finish what I had started 15, 25, even an hour ago.

I work from home, I love it. I went upstairs earlier to grab some water and my little daughter Emily was just hopping onto our couch as she began reaching for our fluffy bright red pillows. I knew what was coming, it was indeed the beginnings of a "Pillow Pile Party!" ... Over the next 80 seconds or so, I watched this little girl who is not quite 2 years old crawl from couch to couch, each time picking up one pillow and laying it ever so perfectly on top of the next in the pillow pile. A few times her placement was off, she would start go get the next pillow, turn around, and fix the placement so it was perfect, THEN on to the next task (in this case the next pillow). She moved remotes, she pushed an ottoman, she even handed me her cup of water so she could crawl over the ottoman to the last 2 pillows in the corner of the room. All in all, some 80 seconds later, she was done. No loose ends, she didn't have 1/3rd of the pile completed ... she was finished with that task there and then ... Next, obviously like any pre-2 year old would ... she jumped in the pile and laughed ... Naturally, like any 31 year old father would do next ... I jumped in with her ...

When I got back downstairs to my office opened up a word doc, jotted down the 10 or so things I was truly working on and proceeded to open ONE window at a time until that task was complete. Along the way, I had new ideas pop into my head, and I simply added them to this open word doc but RESISTED the temptation to begin that deed that VERY moment. I also turned my phone to silent and one by one I dominated that list, it was the most productive hour I've had this week ... so much so, I wrote a blog about it ... you can read it here.

Yours Truly,

Learning From Almost 2 Year Olds

2008-07-01T18:43:00.000-07:00